Long Time Gone

I should have gone to the doctor's office back in November when my first symptoms appeared, but my youngest sister, who used to be a nurse, talked some very good logic and allied my fears.

Before I got to the scheduled mouth to groin look-see surgery, my body just gave out. I wear one of those lifeline buttons around my neck, but, seriously, I never thought I'd actually USE it. I wore it mostly for mom. Since I live alone, as she was at that time in her life, and it only ran $35.00 a month, it was worth it to keep the peace. Her next comment, instead of being the praise I'd expected to hear, was a snide "Mine only costs $25 a month." The company claims that, since I live so far from town, they had to charge more. Everything they've ever sent me came by US mail.

Several of my "horsey" friends found me after going to great lengths, and, of course, family and friends. I did not tell anyone…I could not…I was in a coma. The tail end of that arrived May 5th, when I could (after uncomfortably long pauses between words) answer, mostly nonsensically.

I'd start to explain what happened, but couldn't keep events in sequence, much less finish a thought. When my think time took too long, a less taxing question was posed.